Acer Iconia B1 Jelly Bean tablet now available in India for Rs. 7,999

Acer’s Iconia B1 is now available in India. The device was unveiled as the Iconia B1-A71 at CES 2013. The tablet boasts of a 7-inch display with a 1024x600 pixel resolution. Other specifications of the device include, the dual-core MediaTek processor (MTK 8317T) clocked at 1.2GHz, 512MB of RAM, 8GB built-in storage expandable via a microSD card. The tablet will also run the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.

The Iconia B1-A71 also has a 2,710mAh battery along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS. At CES 2013, the price of the device was $150 which roughly translates to Rs.8,200.

We think Acer has hit the sweet spot with the price and specifications of the device. To start with Acer is a global brand, making its devices a little more reliable that the local budget tablets available in the market today. Recently, we have seen some impressive budget devices launch in India.

One of these devices is the iberry Auxus CoreX2 3G. It has a 7-inch HD IPS display with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels giving it a pixel density of 216ppi, which is the same as the Nexus 7 (read our review here). The Auxus CoreX2 3G is powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and the Mali 400 GPU. The device supports a 3G SIM card not only for data but for voice calls as well. The tablet is priced at Rs. 10,990. You can read our detailed review of the CoreX2 3G tablet here.

One budget tablet that has also caught our attention under the Rs. 7,000 price point is the WickedLeak Wammy Desire. Its specifications are quite impressive with a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 400 Mali quad-core GPU, 3000mAh battery, 1.3MP front facing camera, 8GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card. You can read our detailed review of the device here.

Acer may have a brand name to bank on, but it will face stiff competition from local brands such as Zync, iberry and Micromax to name a few.

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Tablets/Acer-Iconia-B1-Jelly-Bean-tablet-now_13090.html

Acer to launch Jelly Bean-based 'Iconia B1' tablet in India soon: Reports

The Acer Iconia B1 is expected to release in the country towards the end of January 2013 at a price point of Rs. 7,999. The specifications of the device are still rumoured, but what is certain is that the tablet will be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The rumoured specifications of the device include a 7-inch display with a 1024x600 resolution, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and PowerVR SGX 531 GPU. The tablet will also have Wi-Fi connectivity but will compromise on a SIM card slot to maintain the low price point. It is possible that we will see the tablet at CES 2013 in January and the device will make its debut in the emerging markets considering the attractive price point.

Another 7-inch tablet, which was recently launched, has caught our attention because of the specifications and the price point. The Auxus CoreX2 3G has a 7-inch HD IPS display with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. A dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and the Mali 400 GPU power the device.

It supports a 3G SIM card not only for data but for voice calls as well. The rear of the device houses a 2MP camera and the front has a 0.3MP camera for video calls. Straight out of the box, the Auxus CoreX2 3G runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Auxus CoreX2 3G has 8GB built-in storage expandable up to 64GB via a microSD card. This is the first time we have seen 64GB expandable memory on a budget device. It also supports Bluetooth v4.0 and a 4,100mAh battery. It is priced at Rs. 10,990.


Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Tablets/Acer-to-launch-Jelly-Bean-based-Iconia-B1_12930.html

To fight Apple-flight, Microsoft must hang tough on Surface

I just pray that Microsoft doesn't cave to pressure from partners to punt on Surface.

The first public plea came this week from Acer, which, in effect, begged Microsoft to drop Surface.

If that happens, Microsoft will lose the consumer to Apple for good. Probably sooner rather than later.

And if Acer is that worried about Surface, then it should out-design Microsoft or look elsewhere. Right now I don't see anything from Acer that would make me chuck my MacBook and iPad.

But Surface could. And it gets even more interesting when I see that Redmond is already working on Surface 2.

(Of course, if Microsoft isn't able to follow through with a stable, reliable finished product that lives up to the hype, all bets are off. In other words, it needs to be as good as Apple at executing.)

But whatever happens, Hewlett-Packard or Dell or Acer would never have conceived of a Windows 8 Pro Surface. It's not in their design DNA and Microsoft knows this better than anyone.

So, MS came up with a 10.6-inch, 903-gram device packing a 1,920x1,080 display (that's some pretty serious pixel density), Mini DislayPort (means I can hook it up to my Apple Cinema display), Core i5 processor (let's hope it's a very power-frugal variety), and a 128GB solid-state drive.

And of course that 5mm-thick physical keyboard. 

 

To counter Surface, PC makers will engage in a lot of Windows 8 puffery about their ultracool convertible or touch-screen ultrabook. I don't know about you, but I need more than that to give Windows 8 equal time on my desktop.

OK, so Mac users aren't going anywhere and Windows 8 means diddly-squat (or worse) to them. But that's not Microsoft's objective. It simply needs to staunch the flow of defections to OS X and iOS.

Thus the June 15 Windows-8-plus-Surface pre-announcement. A soup-to-nuts hardware and software platform that is unmistakably Apple-like. And proposes to trump Apple and make Tim Cook eat his refrigerator-toaster analogy in the process.

The only remotely valid reason for Microsoft to abandon Surface is if it suddenly spurred HP, Asus, Acer, et al to design consumer devices that are cooler than Surface and go head-to-head with Apple.

Anyone out there think that's possible?

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57491412-92/to-fight-apple-flight-microsoft-must-hang-tough-on-surface/